ST & SAG deliver tiny NFC tags for IoT applications

1st June 2016

Nat Bowers

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Datasheet

STMicroelectronics & Securitag Assembly Group (SAG) have announced a tiny NFC Ferrite Tag that uses ST’s ST25 NFC tag IC for IoT data-transmission applications. Small, light and thin, the NFC Ferrite Tag can be surface-mounted during production through the metal pad that can be directly soldered to the PCB surface. It can also function when placed on metal products because of its anti-metallic interference characteristics.

These features make it highly attractive for IoT data-transmission applications in consumer electronics, wearable devices and smart healthcare products. The tiny NFC Ferrite Tag suits the need for smaller, thinner and lighter design for wearable products where compactness is critical.

Along with its small dimensions (4.9x3.0x2.5mm), the NFC Ferrite Tag with an embedded antenna demonstrates outstanding RF performance, benefiting from ST’s state-of-the-art ST25TA02K NFC Forum Type 4 tag IC with built-in NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) message support. This allows the NDEF data to be directly executed through an Android NFC phone without any dedicated application software. In addition to NDEF support, the ST25TA02K features a 20-bit counter and 128-bit password to protect read / write access to the 2Kb EEPROM memory.

Manufacturers will ship as many as 2.2bn NFC-enabled smartphones by 2020 according to IHS Technology (Market Insight, NFC-enabled Handset Shipments to Reach Three-Quarters of a Billion in 2015, June 2015). The growing momentum for NFC is expected to drive new IoT and wireless applications in the smart home, smart healthcare/medical, smart city and smart factory. With ST’s global reach and semiconductor leadership, combined with SAG’s professional manufacturing of RFID tags, the two companies aim to accelerate innovation and new product development that strengthens the competitiveness of their customers’ final products.

Samples of the NFC Ferrite Tag are available here.